“The Diviners”: A Jazz Age thriller for teens

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:12:00 +0000

An epic novel with scads of characters has to be a daunting prospect for any audiobook narrator. The gold standard in pulling it off is Roy Dotrice, whose performances of four titles in George R.R. Martin's blockbusting fantasy series, "A Song of Ice and Fire," convey a fictional world with over 1,000 characters, each with his or her own distinct way of speaking. However, this isn't a challenge that often confronts readers of YA (young adult) audiobooks, given that the genre specializes in quirky, irreverent first-person narration. Once you get Holden Caulfield's voice down, you're set.

Libba Bray's new YA novel, "The Diviners," is one whopping exception, a sprawling tale told in the third person from multiple points of view. The print version clocks in at 600 pages and change, and January LaVoy's narration will gobble up 18 hours of your life. You won't miss them. "The Diviners," a supernatural thriller set in Jazz Age New York, hurtles along with a saucy brio that successfully marries contemporary teenage sensibilities with a brash, youth-mad moment in American history. It's tremendous fun, and LaVoy's performance is dazzling.

Salon.com > Libba Bray

“The Diviners”: A Jazz Age thriller for teens